This invention relates generally to a reader-filler machine for loading a multi-channel microfiche jacket with microfilm chips, and more particularly to a machine of this type which includes a structuring mechanism adapted to bring into registration the leading edges of all chips within the several channels of the jacket regardless of the length of the chips.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,238,655, entitled "Microfiche Master," discloses a microfiche master composed of a transparent jacket formed by two plastic panels laminated together by ribs which are spaced to define a series of chambers or channels adapted to accommodate microfilm frames. The loaded, multi-channel jacket functions as a microfiche master from which reference copies may be made. This is effected by contact-printing through the front panel which is quite thin, the back panel being thicker to impart body to the jacket. Such microfiche masters are highly useful in storing and disseminating information.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,937,483 and 3,238,655, a film-feeding machine is disclosed which functions to slice microfilm and to insert the cut pieces or chips into the channels of the microfiche jacket. By the use of this machine, insertions are made by placing the microfiche jacket on an inclined platform carriage which is shiftable to register successive jacket chambers with the leading edge of the incoming film, the film being guided along a trackway terminating adjacent the edge of the platform. In operation, a film chip constituted by one or more microfilm frames is advanced into a selected chamber and the trailing edge of the section is severed. The platform is then indexed to the next chamber position for a new insertion.
To facilitate insertion of film chips, the microfiche jacket is provided with entry slots adjacent the front ends of the chambers, thereby making it possible to insert the film laterally at an angle to the plane of the jacket rather than in an endwise direction which entails exact co-planar alignment of the film with the jacket. Since a flexible film has a tendency to curl, the advantage of angular insertion is that the angle of insertion is not critical; for the film entering the slot then bends inwardly into the chamber and is admitted without difficulty. This is the reason why the platform on which the jacket is supported is inclined relative to the film trackway.
The film is sliced at a point directly adjacent the edge of the jacket. Since the slot through which the film enters the chamber is displaced from this edge, the cut section is not fully inserted and a short tail thereof remains exposed. If a subsequent insertion is to be made in the same chamber, the tail is objectionable, for it prevents a new insertion. Thus it becomes necessary to employ a pusher element to clear the slot and thereby complete the insertion.
In loading a multi-channel microfiche jacket with microfilm chips cut from a film reel, some of the chips will be longer than others. The largest acceptable chip is one that fully occupies the chamber or channel, but depending on the information to be stored, some chips may be shorter. If, for example, the largest acceptable chip has ten image frames, some may have eight or nine, and others only two or three.
It is sometimes essential or desirable that all chips loaded into the several channels have their right or leading edge in line with the right end of the jacket regardless of the length of the chips, so that all leading edges of the chips are in registration with each other. The reason for so "structuring" a microfiche jacket is to facilitate referencing in the X and Y coordinates, whereby all leading edges of the chips terminate in a common Y axis.
Such structuring can be accomplished when using a reader-filler machine of the type covered by the Dorman U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,645, whose entire disclosure is incorporated herein by reference. In the machine disclosed in the Dorman patent, the jacket to be loaded is supported on a platform that is shiftable stepwise in a path at right angles with respect to a film trackway, each channel having an entry slot adjacent the leading edge of the jacket. In parallel with the trackway is a retractable film pusher whereby when the trackway is aligned with a selected channel, the pusher is then in registration with the next adjacent channel. Interposed between the platform and the trackway is a film slicer.
After an operator draws from a film reel a predetermined section of film which he advances along the trackway into the channel aligned therewith through its entry slot, a switch is actuated to initiate an automatic three-phase cycle. In the course of this cycle, first the slicer operates to cut the film whereby the tail of the severed section or chip extends outside the slot; then the platform is indexed to shift the loaded chamber into alignment with the pusher while placing the next empty chamber in line with the trackway in readiness for the next insertion; and finally the film pusher acts to engage the tail, pushing it into the slot to thereby complete the insertion of the chip into the chamber.
If the inserted chip so pushed into the chamber is shorter than the length thereof, then the trailing edge of the chip is in line with the left or trailing end of the jacket. But to effect structuring, it is necessary that the leading edge of the chip be lined up with the right or leading end of the chamber.
In order to accomplish structuring with the Dorman machine, the chamber loaded with the chip has first to be indexed in the reverse direction to bring it back into alignment with the film trackway. Then the film in the trackway is used by the operator as a pushing tool to engage the trailing edge of the chip and to push it until its leading edge is positioned adjacent the leading end of the jacket. Then the film is retracted. Thus the film to be later inserted in an empty channel is also used to effect structuring of a film chip already inserted in a loaded channel.
There are a number of practical objections to this procedure. First: the reverse indexing of the platform interferes with the normal forward indexing procedure; Second: the use of film as the pushing tool into and out of the chamber may mar the surface of the film; Third: the film, especially if it is very thin and delicate, may lack sufficient stiffness to function effectively as a structuring element and the film may collapse; and Fourth: in the case of a filler-reader machine operating with very thin film, the butting of the end of the film used as a pushing tool with the end of the film being pushed is critical, and there is a tendency for the pushing film to ride over rather than to push the film to be pushed.